Gender Equality

and the Indian

Constitution

Lara Jesani, Advocate, Bombay High Court

For a lecture organised by St. Arnold’s Degree
College on 7th March 2022, on the occasion of
International Women’s Day
Historic struggle for legal rights of women

Right to work,
Right to equality Right to vote equal opportunity Right to education
and equal pay

Right to protection Right to autonomy

Right to property Rights in marriage
from and choice, right to
and inheritance and personal laws
discrimination privacy

Representation Preventing sexual

Safe public spaces, Feticide, trafficking
through affirmative violence and
homes, workplace prevention
action justice for survivors
Right to gender equality – women’s movements

• Women’s participation in French revolution, Russian Revolution,

National Liberation struggles in Asia and early movements
• Feminist movements on right to equality, education, employment
opportunities, voting rights, bodily autonomy and against sexual
violence
• Demand for legal rights and freedoms, protections under law
• Political representation of women
Right to vote – a long struggle
• Women’s movement in Great Britain for women’s suffrage – 1870
petition submitted in parliament demanding franchise for women with
almost 3 million signatures - defeat of several bills for suffrage made in
the Parliament – Representation of People’s Act passed in 1918, 1928
voting age lowered to 21 years
• United states – Seneca Falls Convention 1948 declaration women’s
suffrage, educational and employment opportunities – National
American Women Suffrage Association – Wyoming first state 1890 –
1920 Nineteenth Amendment to US Constitution
• New Zealand (1893), Australia (1902), Finland (1906), Norway (1913)
United Nations and women’s rights

• UN Commission on the Status of Women established in 1946

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 - right to equality -
Article 1, Article 2
• Convention on the Elimination
of All forms of Discrimination
(CEDAW) 1979 
The United Nation’s Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (UDHR) which was proclaimed by
the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on
10 December 1948, as a common standard of
achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the
end that every individual and every organ of
society, keeping this Declaration constantly in
mind, shall strive by teaching and education to
promote respect for these rights and freedoms
and by progressive measures, national and
international, to secure their universal and
effective recognition and observance, both
among the peoples of Member States themselves
and among the peoples of territories under their
jurisdiction.
Universal
Declaration
Of
Human
Rights
Drafting of the
Indian Constitution
took 166 days,
spread over a
period of 2 years,
11 months and 18
days (from 9
December, 1946 to
26 November
1949).

8
Dr. Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, Chairman of Drafting Committee

9
15 Women Members in the drafting committee of the Indian
Constitution

Ammu Swaminathan Malati Choudhury

Annie Mascarene Purnima Banerjee
Begum Aizaz Rasul Rajkumari Amrit Kaur
Dakshayani Velayudhan Renuka Ray
Durgabai Deshmukh Sarojini Naidu
Hansa Jivraj Mehta Sucheta Kriplani
Kamla Chaudhary Vijalakshami Pandit
Leela Roy
Constitution of India, 1949 – paving the way for
gender equality in India
• Article 14 – Right to equality before law
• Article 15 – Protection from discrimination on the basis of sex
• Article 16 – Right to equal opportunity
• Article 39(a) – Equal right to adequate means of livelihood
• Article 39(d) – Equal pay for equal work
• Article 42 – Just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief
• Universal Adult Suffrage
• Reservation for women in politics
Source : Oxfam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKeqwBOAfOU&t=112s
THANKS!
LARA JESANI
Any questions?
You can find me at
lara.jesani@gmail.com
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